Ace Combat: The Flight of Dharma
by Gisan Zioga
Summary: It has been two years since the beginning of the KugatanUtarian War. Two ace pilot brothers, Omega1 and Maverick1 are thrown into the fray. With a whole bunch of enemy aces ready to gun them and allies to help. Rated T for slight language and violence.
1. Omega Squadron Takes Flight!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights Ace Combat. Nor do I own the rights to any plane that is brought into the story, with the exception of originals.

Chapter 1: Omega Squadron Takes Flight! Battle at Sunset!

High above a mountainous and forested area, along a sunset lit sky. A group of 6 shapes appeared over the horizon, seemingly cruising along without so much as a speck of care. As they got farther and farther away from the horizon line, their shapes became defined and known.

Four fighter escort, consisting of two Su-27 Flankers, and a pair of F-5 Tiger E s. The last plane was their leader. A J 35 Draken. They were surrounding a C-17 Globemaster in a diamond shaped formation, with the Draken taking the forward position. The Su-27s, were painted in the colors of the setting sun, starting with the brightest color and gradually fading down the backside of the aircraft. The F-5s were painted deep purple with red stripes on the wings. An emblem marked their nationality. A pair of flying fish circling a red spot in the middle of a white rectangle, the mark of the country of Kugatan.

Captain Genma Tairo, the Draken's pilot, looked outward from behind his craft through his helmet display and oxygen mask. He looked around in his seat, taking his head around to both the left and the right. He sighed; forgetting that the other pilots around him heard his exasperation over the comm-link. The pilot of the Flanker to his right spoke up at hearing his superior's distress. "Itching for a fight as always, eh captain?" "Don't you ever remember to use call signs, Kuro 1?" "Sorry sir."

The already weary captain put a hand to his head, shaking it in annoyance to his right wingman's attitude. He and his wingman fought with one another constantly back at base. "_It makes me wonder why someone hasn't killed him yet in combat."_ The only answer that came to mind was this. He was just _that_ good. "Sorry guys, I just haven't fought in a good fight for years." His left wingman spoke up from his F-5. "You're not the only one Taurus; I want to fight an enemy too."

The other two also gave their statements of agreement. They hadn't had a good dogfight in years and all of them were thirsty for the taste of battle.

"Well as long as we got most of this country in our hands-" Said the second Flanker's pilot. "I'm afraid we're not gonna see battle for awhile." "I hear that! What I would give for a nice dogfight!" The second F-5's pilot said nothing, everyone knew full well he shared the same sentiments. "Well as long as it stays that way. Let's enjoy our flight." Communication was silent afterward.

However, the pilots were all but alone in the sky….

High above the unaware squadron two jets stalked the group like hawks stalking prey. The first of them had clipped delta wings and trapezoidal vertical stabilizers, an F-22 Raptor. The other was similar to the Raptor, but it sported a single engine and it's wings and ailerons were slightly trapezoidal, and its vertical stabilizers were more of a swept back design and placed at an angle, an F-35 Lightening II. The F-22's paint scheme was anything but boring to look at. It was black with blood red tiger stripes that covered the sides of frontal intakes and the front and back of its wings, as well as down its back. A bright red Omega was imprinted to both sides of the craft's vertical stabilizers.

The F-35's scheme was of similar taste. The body was navy blue with green triangular stripes running down to the wings from the top of the frontal intake. Two more inhabited the wings as well. A large Sigma was painted to the vertical stabilizers. Both pilots and their crafts were silent with the reasonable exception of the roar of their engines and the howling of the wind…A voice then broke their silence as swift as a roadrunner. "Omega Squadron, you have permission to engage, I repeat, permission to engage has been given!" "Roger that!" "Heard that one!" The two pilots replied quickly. The F-22's pilot gave his wingman the A-OK sign before making his callsign known along with his wingman's.

"Omega-1, prepared to engage!" "Maverick-1, ready to fight!" Then both fighters pushed down their elongated noses and began their dive to battle. The F-22 crossed the path of Maverick-1's Lightening II as they swooped in on their targets. "Let's roast some Iron Eagle!" Maverick-1 shouted excitedly over the comm. "Couldn't be said better!" was Omega-1's reply. The two eager pilots were itching and ready to pounce.

Their arrival on the enemy's radars could not have been a more welcome development. "Bogey in on our sixes!" "What?! Scatter and prepare to engage!" "Roger!" The Flankers, Tigers, and Draken promptly did so. All of them made wide banking turns into the reverse direction of their scheduled flight path…just in time to meet the newcomer. The F-22 came screaming toward the second of the Tiger II's, spitting out a short burst of gunfire onto it before overshooting and moving onto the C-17.

"He's heading for the transport, both of you go after him!" Genma ordered, indicating Kuro 1 and Kuro 4 were to engage their new combatant. Both pulled back and pulled a half-loop before rolling over…only for the Flanker pilot to get a few bullet holes and almost rammed by the F-35's reckless flying. "What the…! Where'd he come from!?" "Does it really matter? Lets go!" Both the Flanker and Tiger II then blasted off after their adversary with afterburners roaring.

Omega-1 was so focused on his target, the transport aircraft, that he hadn't noticed the two planes coming his way till his wingman pointed it out. "Hey Jared, you got two of them heading your way." The Raptor pilot looked to his radar display and nodded unto himself. "I see' em. Andrew. I see' em." Then he got a missile alert blaring in his ear and showing on his radar shortly after as a reward. Making Jarred exclaim loudly "Ho boy, wild day to be hunting!" The Raptor then climbed up, pulling a half-loop to face the horizon and dived down as it rolled out upright.

"Its dinner time! Today's special is…HOT LEAD!" Jarred then opened fire upon the earlier wounded Flanker as he dived toward the two fighters, and added about twenty more holes to the Flanker to add to it's earlier thirty. The fuel tank ignited and the plane began to glide toward the ground. "Gnaaaaaaa-!" The panicking pilot was cut off as the fuselage exploded brilliantly just as Omega-1 passed over head. "Jacky, No!" The F-5 pilot climbed into the vertical position with afterburners blazing brightly behind him!

The F-22 followed suit as Jared pulled the stick back. Their climb went on for about a minute that seemed stretched into a painstaking ten minutes. It was one second after that the F-22 stalled. Seeing his chance, the Tiger II's pilot dove after him after pushing the nose down toward his enemy, getting ready to fire a missile "Gotcha you jacka-." However, just as he pushed the button that would release the deadly armament, the Raptor pulled up into a loop as the missiles launched, making them lose lock and miss their target.

Since the poor pilot was surprised by Jared's fake stall, he had little time to gather his bearings before the F-22 had lined up with him. Locking onto his target, Omega-1 fired two standard issue missiles from the trapeze launchers inside the craft's internal weapons bay. Both launched straight and true to their intended target and blew him out of the sky. A loud "Heeeeeelp!" Was heard from the pilot as he blew from the fire that caught on his fuel. Jared pulled up out of his dive and leveled his craft off. He looked toward the direction the C-17 had been flying, only to find it had already disappeared over the horizon line. "_Damn! We lost the transport…Oh well. Better help Andrew out before he bites off more than he can chew._" He then made a wide banking turn to turn around to the battle that lay before him.

Minutes earlier from Omega-1's short battle, Maverick-1, AKA Andrew, had begun his fight between the three fighters that were currently dogging his six o'clock with gunfire. With his adversary's barley hitting, with the exception of the Draken, who had made a few passes but doing minimal damage. "_Damn that Draken guy is good! I wonder if hes their leader?_" The F-35 pilot then began to execute a Wing Over. Andrew pulled his Lightening II into a steep climb, rolled onto his right wing and completed the tactic by leveling out as he came down. The enemy fighters responded by pulling tight high-G turns that would try and bring their planes back onto his six.

"_No way I'm gonna let you guys get me!_' He pulled up and executed a Half-Cuban 8 maneuver. Doing a half loop and rotating upright before diving in on the Tiger whom then pulled up slightly to face the F-35 head-on in a game of chicken. The F-5 won out and Andrew veered away as the Tiger II sped under him. He continued on and then performed a banking turn to get around for another attack…just as the Draken faced him. Genma got a lock-on to him, and fired two missiles off at the lone aircraft.

The result was surprising to say the least. As the missiles closed in on him, Andrew made his plane do a three hundred and sixty-degree roll and the missiles promptly sped past their intended target.

The Lightening II shot off a short burst of its Vulcan-class machine gun before diving below the trio of enemies. He then pulled up as he performed yet another half-loop, in hopes of getting on his adversaries' six o'clock for a shot at taking out one of the stubborn jerks… It was not to be. The Draken and its wingmen were in a turn as he came up. It was only now that he had a good look at the leader's plane.

Its fuselage was grass green with a white stripe down the middle and on it's single vertical stabilizer. On it's stabilizer was the imprinted image of a blue bull with the constellation of Taurus blazoned in black within it. The trio of planes was now in his sights again. He then dived down into a turn that would bring him behind his opponents. They began turning as the F-35 came up, and he rolled onto his left wing and turned into them in a lag pursuit, with his nose pointed to his enemy's tailpipes. They continued to turn, knowing that their enemy was behind them. The Kugatanians were ones whom were honor bound in battle. Meaning that being defeated meant death.

It was then that one of the Su-27s veered away from the turn. It was a perfect chance! He immediately rolled over onto his right wing and pursued his potential first kill of the day. When they came out of the turn, the Flanker's pilot began weaving his plane around to avoid missile lock. Unfortunately the computer of the Lightening II continued to track him. When he got a stable lock on the Flanker, he pushed the secondary button on his control stick that opened the weapons bay doors. A QAAM missile was hydraulically launched and it sped of to its target just as Andrew was rained on with bullets, which he quickly pulled away from as the Su-27 was hit and exploded violently.

It was then that a welcome voice sounded in over the communications link. "Did ya miss me Maverick-1. Need a little help?" Was heard as the familiar F-22 swooped in front of the F-35 and positioned itself before shooting off at the trio turned duo of jets in front of his ally, making them scatter. "Good timing. I was wondering if you were going to join me at all." Well I had to crumble a few cookies. They were stale too." "What about the transport?" "No dice." Both pilots looked to one another through their cockpits with in their craft.

"Well, at least we got some action." "Too true my friend! Too true!" They the both shot forward with their afterburners ablaze. The J 35 and the Flanker were now heading there way head on. Jared fired off short bursts of his machinegun at the Draken. The F-35 followed suit with the Flanker and they both scattered away. Andrew sped after the Flanker and Jared gave chase to the Draken.

Genma Tairo was getting annoyed at this. "Its time I shot you two down!" He exclaimed as he continued his loop with the F-22 in pursuit. Omega-1 fired of one missile after getting a lock-on. Only to groan as the J 35 rolled to the side and avoided it. "Man, this guy is already annoying me." "I'm only gonna make it worse." Genma replied. "Who the heck are you anyway? You don't fly like a rookie!" Genma's voice laughed over the comm. "My name…is Taurus." It was then that the Draken made a diagonal turn as Taurus tried to get behind his opponent. Jared however wasn't impressed. It was a basic move. He countered it by pulling off a Cobra maneuver….and continued pulling back till his nose was facing Genma's direction.

The Kulbit maneuver, this development made Taurus sqwuak "What the-! Do you think this is an airshow you fool?!" "Nope, just getting on your nerves. ,heres a hot present for you! Right off the stove!" Jared then once more opened fire on the Draken with its Vulcan. Genma took many hits before making the wise decision to climb upward. The F-22 pilot then pulled back the stick and made his plane dive to gain speed.

Andrew was having a ball of with the Su-27, it was weaving, spin, and barrel rolling all over the place. "Geeze, is this guy on a sugar high or what?!" He however then followed the enemy craft almost perfectly as it executed another barrel roll. He was trying to get on the Flanker's six. "_normal tactics might not be so good for this guy…wonder what I could do?_" He thought to himself as he saw the Flanker try a Half-Cuban 8 to catch the F-35 pilot off guard. It didn't work, as Maverick-1 shot off a locked on missile, which the Sukhoi pilot nimbly avoided with haste. The Flanker had rolled off and made a dive for lower altitudes. However, as Andrew lined up with him. He opened fire upon the plane with his Vulcan and forced the would-be runaway to pull up.

Andrew followed him quickly and shot off more of his Vulcan in short bursts for the fourth, fifth and sixth times that day. Each burst did little damage to the plane as it passed through his sights quickly. The Sukhoi pilot then did something odd. He executed what seemed to be Wing Over, but as he reached the peak of his turn he pulled back and almost immediately was behind the Lightening II. It was a hailstorm of bullets that woke up Andrew's instincts, which told him to do a climbing turn.

He went up diagonally left and the Su-27 mimicked his move to keep up with him. The F-35 then went into a series of barrel rolls that were so swift, the Flanker had trouble keeping a stable lock on him at all. When the F-35 stopped for a few seconds. That was the chance that the pilot had been looking for. He jammed his finger to the trigger button in an attempt to finally shoot down his adversary…It was all for naught. The F-35 quickly climbed and then performed a half-loop, which the Flanker kept up with. Andrew then practically threw the stick forward to make his Lightening II climb while upside down. The Flanker also mimicked him once more…

However, when the Flanker completed the half-loop…The enemy was gone! Where he had gone he didn't know. He looked around frantically. Not even thinking about looking to his radar…a fatal mistake. A missile alert screamed in his ear and startled him into panic as a single QAAM missile dashed up his tailpipe and blew the fighter to oblivion. Maverick one whooped as he watched the fiery wreck speedily crash into the ground. "That was the best shot I made all day! Two kills for me!" He then veered right as he headed for the now distance battle between his ally and the enemy squadron's leader.

Taurus nearly choked as he saw his last friendly fighter was shot down. He was amazed. These two managed to take out his entire squadron themselves. They also had plenty of firepower left to finish him as well.. By now, the F-22 had sustained substantial damage. The wings had bullet holes and even a in the plane's armor near the cockpit.

By all rights his plane should have been crashing down into the ground by now, and Jared knew it. He was just _damned_ lucky today. He sighed as he rubbed where his forehead would be if the helmet had not been obstructing his path. "Gary is going to kill me for this." He groaned at the thought of his tech manager chewing him out for bringing back the plane a flying mess. "Sounds like its pretty bad, eh Omega-1?" "You have no idea." Replied the weary and worn out pilot."I do now that I can see ya there."

Andrew's F-35 now came into view on Jared's left. He was speeding at the J 35 and loosing a barrage of bullets at him, in hopes of shooting him down. He failed in that, and veered off as Taurus went after him. The F-22 quickly went into a Half-Cuban 8 to give chase as well. Trying to stay on the wildly swerving Draken's six of whom was trying to keep up with the weaving of the Lightening II. As soon as the targeting recticle got sight of the J 35. He opened fire in hopes of shooting down the enemy, to no avail.

The nimble Draken quickly veered away, after which both the pilots went after him in a heartbeat. Both of them began taking turns firing of their Vulcan at Taurus' plane. Both of them were doing substantial damage. The Draken was beginning to smoke now from the damage. Genma knew his plane could not take much more abuse. While Kugatanians also put their honor on the line as well as their life. Even they knew when to give up. The Draken did a banking turn to the right and then kept on with it until he was pointed towards his home base.

"You may have won this round, you lousy Utarians, but I'll be back to fight another day!!" It was then that he lit his afterburners and sped off as quickly as possible. The F-35's afterburners lit up as well. Hoping to give chase. "Come back here!!" Maverick-1 exclaimed. "Let him go bro. Let him go." "Ah, but-" "No buts. As your squadron leader, I order you not to give chase." Was Jared's terse reply. They then watched as the J 35 got smaller and smaller till it disappeared over the horizon line.

Then Jared decided to report in to his home base. "This is Omega-1, This is Omega-1. Do you copy Dalleus Tower?" It was a short silence before another familiar voice came over the communications link.. "This is Dalleus Tower, You reporting in Omega 1?" "Sure am. We missed getting the target transport and the escort squadron's leader. However, I confirm four kills, four of the five aircraft fighter escort has been shot down. Three by me, the other one is my brother's handiwork." There was another short silence as the voice on the other end seemed to be thinking. Then it spoke up once more. "Very well then, Omega Squadron. Return to base and land. You've done a good days work despite the losses. You deserve it." "Thank you, sir." Was the reply of both pilots. Then Jared looked to his brother in the F-35 Lightening II from his Raptor. "Well, Andrew my friend. Let's head home and get some rest." "Yeah, I need one after this." Then they climbed up till they were above the clouds. It had just turned to night, and both of them were pretty weary from their fight. They went into supercruise mode, their jets going past Mach 1.5, it was then that they flew straight and true to the Northeast. To home base in the USU. The United States of Utaria.

Note, there are some references to movies and video games and in this fiction. For example. The Sigma-symbol on the F-35 and his callsign being Maverick-1 are reference to the MegaMan X series. You need to look hard to find these reference so don't be scared to ask what they are. Another example is Genma's statement "What the-! Do you think this is an airshow you fool?!" is a reference to that the Kulbit maneuver is usually used during airshows and not commonly used in combat. Well, till next time people! As a repeat. I do not own Ace Combat and most of the planes in this story. I DO however own rights to my characters and any planes I make up for this fic that Namco hasn't. Have a nice day!


	2. Gokomma Air Base

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights Ace Combat. Nor do I own the rights to any plane that is brought into the story, with the exception of originals. I do not own the Neucom concept either.

Chapter 2: Gokomma Air Force Base.

In the morning of a misty Wednesday of Gokomma Air Force Base, in the wilderness of the Calakna Mountains. It was just now becoming sunrise on base, the only beings stirring in the morning at this hour were the generals doing early morning paperwork and the engineers repairing and tuning the planes for combat.. It was 6:20 on the clock next to his bed. 21 year-old Jared Rey was just now being unceremoniously and rudely awakened by his alarm clock's beeper. He groaned as he slapped the simple yet complex machine to shut up, shifting himself to a point where his legs were on the ground beside his bed.

He wiped his hand across his face to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes. Yet they betrayed his need to look awake as they came only half-closed. "Man o' man what a night." He sighed out as he stood up in boxers and a white muscle shirt. Stretching his arms to get the stiffness out of them, a yawn escaping his mouth that wanted to show no signs of weariness. His clock radio was blaring a tune by a band called Genesis, a song called…'Turn It on Again' wasn't it? He smacked the maliciously annoying device again to make it fall silent again.

He trudged to the bathroom in his dorm that he shared with his brother, Andy Rey. First taking off his clothes and closing the door behind him after getting a towel and his toothbrush. The real wake up call via the trumpets wasn't for about eighty minutes, so he had plenty of time to enjoy his hot shower. As he went about his hygiene business, he recollected what happened after he got back.

The F-22 Raptor of Omega-1 seemed to glide to the tarmac as the wheels begun their spinning with a loud, short 'Skrch!', bringing it to the ground as it slowly bled off speed. Jarred was tired and his plane was somewhat in tatters. The hole in his wing would drive Gary crazy in terms of repairs. Which meant bad news for Jared's sleep and his brother's as well. He sighed unto himself as he slowly rolled his plane off the runway and slowly into the hangar. Seeing Andy's F-35 Lightening II land as the doors of the repair hangar began their closing like a curtain on a stage.

He took off his pilot helmet as he opened the cockpit.. His azure dyed hair a big mess from his flight and the helmet's interior. His thin yet strong build was not visible under his flight jacket as he stood up to his full 5'9 frame. Slowly climbing down the pilot ladder as it was placed there. Gary was waiting for him at the bottom. "_Oh joy, here comes the lecture._" He thought as he closed his eyes and waited for his friend's impending roar of speech…

Instead all he got was a curt but friendly "Welcome back, Lieutenant Rey. Glad to see your back in one piece." From a voice that was inadvertently stuck between alto and baritone. Gary Falkan was clad in a light blue T-shirt with a pocket for pencils on the front that went widely unused for anything except the man's ID card. He was Drafican,with dark brown skin and black hair that was buzzed nearly bald. His belt buckle was tight as it was hold his blue jeans up over his light frame. His eyes were a emerald green.

Jared was stunned at Gary not giving him the usual speech about being careful in battle to keep his plane from getting too banged up. "No speech today Gary? Is it a special occasion, holiday, or the end of the world already?" "Oh, ha ha, you goof ball. I stopped giving those to you a month back and you know it." "Battle tends to make me forget that." "So it seems-" He paused as he looked to the hole in the plane's wing. "-, I'm surprised you hadn't gone tumbling down." "You and me both on that one buddy. Think you can fix her?" Gary only smiled in response to this inquiry "Isn't that what we engineers are here for?" He asked rhetorically as he called over a team of men to begin the repairs as Maverick-1's plane came in the hangar as well.

Jarred finished his hygiene practice just as the memory of last night's talk with Gary faded back to it's rightful place in the back of his head. He sighed as he turned off the water, cleaned his teeth, and used mouthwash before he got dressed in his dark red military uniform. He looked at the clock as it read 6:35. Still plenty of time to get to the Mess Hall before the morning stampede. He took his ID card and left the room silently to let his younger nineteen year-old brother.

He and his brother had been training to be fighter pilots since they were seventeen and fourteen respectively. His reasons were to fight the upcoming threat of Kugatan. His brother's was simply to get to fly. Yet they both made it in short time of two years of training and conditioning before they were even issued a plane of their choosing. The Utarian Military thought it would be best for pilots to choose their planes rather than issue them with no choice in the matter. It gave variety to the composition of the Air Force to go with the different pilots and styles of combat unique to each pilot.

He had chosen the F-22 for it's swift controls and superior technology. It's thrust vectoring allowed complex maneuvers, something that was of the essence for Jared. Andy had chosen the F-35 for it's similar technology and it's hovering abilities, which he rarely ever used. Both of them became knowledgeable of the capabilities of their planes within the year they got them and were formed into a two-man squadron a short time after. They were both fierce pilots and very skilled aces to boot by the time the conflict by Utaria and Kugatan really heated up.

He sighed as he entered the virtually empty Mess Hall, with the exception of one female cadet he saw every morning. "Morning, Eli." "Morning yourself, Champ." He and Eli Dawkes had become good friends the few mornings they met in the Mess Hall before the morning rush to get ready for the day's work.

Jared grabbed a Pilorade from a near by vending machine using a few cents of change. He also bought a granola bar. He was someone who was most known in the Mess Hall for being a healthy eater. He took pride in it too. Otherwise he would be no good in the sky. The electrolyte-enhanced drink had no caffeine in it but the hot shower and it were doing a good of waking him up. Eli was a petite but very well built female pilot in the all female, Flower Squadron, another famous squadron in the base. Which she was the flight leader of. She was a C cup if anyone cared to ask…that is, if one felt like enduring a good, solid slap that could fell even the toughest soldier in one shot to find out.

Her military uniform was a dark pink and her height was 4'6, her hair was a natural dark red with ice blue eyes to match. She was beautiful in pretty much every standard imaginable by the mind of a male. "_That and much more._" He laughed inwardly was he sipped his drink and looked Eli's way. "How did your tasking order go yesterday?" A tasking order was a mission given by the government, if they didn't know. She looked Jared's way with a wry smile. "Good as always, my R-1290 was a bit banged up though." The R-1290 was a plane by a company called Neucom which had itself set up in some other part of the world. He had heard they had many major successes in the field of Radical Aerodynamics. The R-1290 was one of those successes.

"Glad to hear. Me and Andy's mission was good, my F-22 and his F-35 sustained some damage, but we made it back in one piece. We let the flight leader go though." "Whys that?" "He ran away." Eli could only laugh lightly at Jared's insult of the Kugatan pilot. "Be careful, I heard they can hear all the way down here. He might have heard you." This time they both laughed heartily at the joke. Jared took a sip of his Pilorade again as he finished the granolas bar and got up to leave. He checked his watch as he looked to Eli in his peripheral vision. "It is now 7:10, better go wake up my Bro." "Just make sure he's not cranky, you remember what happened last time." Jared chuckled at her comment and waved to her as he left.

As he got back to the room to wake up Andy, he noticed his bed was empty and the sound of the shower running. He left the room, knowing what would happen if Andy knew he was out here in the bedroom. He closed the door behind him.

Andy's eyes blinked open slowly as his brain registered that he was in the waking world. He groaned as he sat up and rubbed the weariness from his eyelids as he looked to the clock. The clock read 7:04. Which prompted a groan from him. The memory of last night that stuck out the most for him was the debriefing with General Squall.

Jared and Andy stood in the General in the briefing room. The man was sixty-six years old and still able to whoop the ass of anyone who would like to annoy him past breaking point. The general stood there in his gunmetal gray military uniform, which was adorned with various awards and pins defining his achievements. Dark magenta shades sat on the bridge of his nose and also thwarted any attempt to tell what he was thinking. A very cliché billbrow naval officer's hat with a pair of silver wings adorning the front of it sat on his head to hide the majority of his gallant silver hair. A pipe made aluminum sat in his mouth, the general wasn't a smoker, and it was a fake he used to burn incense in order to give that appearance. He stood just a head higher than Jared did. "It was a good mission boys, the cargo transport got away but you managed to down four enemy fighters. Excellent work." "Thank you sir." Replied both pilots. Jared stepped forward as Andy sat down. "Permission to speak sir?" "Shoot." "I was wondering if we had gotten any Intel on what was in that transport?"

"Unfortunately no, and seeing as it may be all the way to its destination by now, then I'll be damned if we do." "Sorry sir." The General only smiled at both of them. "Forget about it Jared, for all we know it could have been just a bunch of rations and supplies. Now, you two get some rest and prepare for a mission tomorrow if you have one. Dismissed." Jared was the only one who saluted as the memory went black.

It had been at that time that his body had given out on him. The hot shower he was having now wasn't much help as he was getting sleepy again. His hand accidentally slipped on the shower handle and a cold shock hit him as the water suddenly turned cold. Prompting a yell out of his mouth. He finished his hygienic routine a few minutes later and got dressed in his blue military outfit.

Jared awaited Andy as he came outside of their room. He stood there with a Nature's Gorge granola bar and a Pilorade. Andy gladly took them both and began eating and drinking his breakfast for the morning. He stopped abruptly as he asked a question, he had begun following his brother through the white and green painted halls of the dorm area, passing by bulletin boards that lay at the various crossroads. "Morning, Bro." "Morning, Andy, sleep well?" "Bah, not a bad night, could be better though." "Just as I expected you to say." Jared's response was not listened to as he began to finish off his breakfast.

They finally reached the door that lead to the tarmac; it would be quiet right now since it was so early. The both of them walked at their own pace across the airfield as they headed toward the repair hangar. Which was where their combat aircraft slept for now till the next mission. It took them five minutes to reach the hangar. Thank god it was early as they probably had not locked the door yet.

Both the pilots walked in to find their planes next to a aircraft that was red and green in color, It was Eli's R-1290 Tariot. The plane's nose was the shape of a bullet with ended with an Avenger-class gattling gun, just like the one equipped to the A-10 Thunderbolt. The plane's tail section held a single large Ramjet engine that was sandwiched between two large half-ellipse oval-shaped structures, where the back swept vertical stabilizers set at a twenty-five degree angle and wide obtuse triangle shaped wings seamlessly formed onto them. The area between the tail section and the cockpit held two small intake structures that would give air to the single engine in the back. Triangular canards held onto the plane just behind the cockpit, which had a blue tinted window.

Eli's plane seemed to attract Jared's attention as the pasted by it on the way to Gary's desk. The majestic air that it gave off mesmerized him everytime he saw the dang thing. Afterall, it was a beautiful plane to look at. He found himself suddenly being called to by his brother, which broke his trance. "C'mon Jare! Get a move on!" "Oh hush you!" Was Jared's snappy reply as he caught up with his brother. They both walked together as they reached Gary's office.

Gary sat in his office with a messy desk littered with paperwork he had and had not done. Being the head of anything meant paperwork to do. A fact he dreaded with the utmost dislike. He sighed tiredly. His best team had pulled an all-nighter to get Eli's, Jared's, and Andy's planes back into flyable condition. Eli had visited him earlier in the morning about her plane and he gave her the heads up and what not…It was now the latter two would visit him as they knocked on his door.

"Its open." Was the friendly reply as Jared and Andrew came into the small office. Gary Falkan stood up. "Good to see you boys, I'll have you know that your damages gave us a very hard time for the night." "Sorry about that, Gary, circumstance beyond our control." Was Jared's joking reply as he smiled at his friend. Then Andy chimed in. "So, are our planes flyable?" "Damn, straight they are, or I'm not the Head of Engineering of this base." They all shared a hearty laugh for a few seconds before gaining composure again.

"So, think you guys are gonna rack up some more wounds and kills today?" "Don't know that yet. I hope not. Yesterday was bad enough" "True." It was then that a loud buzzing emanated from their pockets. The brothers looked to each other, then to Gary's direction, their friend only smiled. "What's on the tray today?" "We'll tell ya when we find out. See ya later!" "Later Gary!" The two pilots then left post haste. Leaving Gary to contemplate on some thought for the meantime.

The General sat in a big chair with a built in console that sat in front of a large screen showing a satellite image of the entire area of Kugatan and Utaria. They were using whatever satellites they were still in control of to find the locations of missions and plan them. This was the briefing room. A room operated by the General himself. Making him the busiest person in the entire damn establishment. He burned incense in his aluminum-old style–pipe. He continued to stay in silence as he heard the door open behind him. Damn time flew. He looked to the two pilots in their flight gear. Jared and Andrew were both combat ready.

The General smiled at them both. Grinning as he was ready to get this under way and over with. "Now that you two are here. Lets get this son of a gun going and prepare for battle. I hope you two are up to this tasking order." The two saluted him silently and he returned it. He had a feeling this was going to turn out to be a long day.

Now there is chapter two for ya. Enjoy reading and reviewing this so…have a nice day! Naval battle in the next chapter.

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